Oil burner of the pan or tray type



Aug. 1, 1950 "J. GRIFFIN OIL BURNER OF THE PAN 0R TRAY TYPE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 19, 1946 def? L. Griff/r7 A g- 1950 J. L. GRIFFIN 2,517,200

01L BURNER OF THE PAN 0R TRAY TYPE Filed March 19, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Aug. 1, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE OIL BURNER OF THE PAN R TRAY TYPE J eff L. Griffin, Nashville, N. 0.

Application March 19, 1946, Serial No. 655,573

2 Claims. 1

This invention relates to oil burners of the pan or tray type, and it consists in the constructions, arrangements, and combinations herein described and claimed.

It is a particular object of the invention to provide a novel construction of burner, wherein a natural draft is employed in vaporizing a liquid fuel in the production of a highly combustible vapor.

More particularly it is an important object of the invention to provide a burner wherein independent draft ducts are employed so arranged as to converge to a point of discharge of a liquid fuel, thereby thoroughly vaporizing the liquid fuel due to surface contact with a preheating bafile.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a burner wherein a combustion grill is employed insuring ignition of all gases developed within the burner.

It is also an important object of the invention to provide a burner of the type stated, wherein hot air may be conducted to a plurality of remote points for discharge for heating purposes.

A further important object of the invention is the provision of a burner which is of simple, yet rugged construction and in which the vaporization of a liquid fuel is effected without the use of moving parts.

Additional objects, advantages and features of invention will be apparent from the following description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein,

Figure 1 is a vertical section through a burner constructed in accordance with the invention.

Figure 2 is a cross section on the line 2-2 of Figure 1, with a portion of the preheating balile broken away.

Figure 3 is a cross section on the line 33 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a cross section on the line 4-4 of Figure 1.

In the present instance I have preferred to illustrate a burner particularly well adapted to heating of a tobacco barn or an orchard, although, it will be understood that the principles of the burner are not limited to such use.

Attention is first invited to Figures 1 and 2 wherein there is shown a substantial rectangular housing ID, the rear end I! of which has fixed thereto an annular collar i2, for a purpose presently to be described. At the juncture of the collar [2 and the housing there is positioned a combustion grill I3 extending the full width and height of combustion chamber I4 of the burner.

The grill l3 may be supported in any suitable manner, and in the present instance, horizontal ribs l5 are provided, drilled at suitable points, and the boundary of the grill is likewise drilled to accommodate threaded bolts 6, engaged in tappedbores l of flanges 8 of the collar I2. The grill I3 is formed with a plurality of medially located apertures 16.

A sleeve IT is fixed to the collar I2 and includes a closure plate I8 apertured at suitable points, as at l9, and around each of the apertures a flanged collar 20 is secured. The collar 20 may be threaded to secure a heat conducting pipe or pipes 2|, whereby hot air may be carried to points of discharge. For instance, in a tobacco curing barn the pipes 2| may be extended to different and remote points in the barn for distribution of hot air for the purpose of drying tobacco suspended in the customary practice; while in the case of the burner constructed as an orchard heater, the pipes 2! may be extended and positioned so as to discharge heat at a multiplicity of points beneath a tree or between several trees, 50 that the heat may circulate therebetween and afford ample protection against freezing weather.

Considering the burner per se, attention is invited first to Figure 1, wherein there is shown a front wall 22 provided with vertically spaced draft openings 23 and 24 which are preferably controlled by dampers 25 and 26, respectively.

Between the draft openings 23 and 24, there is provided a draft division member consisting of a plate 21 extended horizontally from the lower edge of the opening 24 and including a diagonal plate 28 contiguous with the upper edge of the opening 23. A draft agitator plate 29 is secured within the burner housing arranged at an angle to the plate 28 defining a reduced draft exit 30. The plate 29 includes a divergent plate 3! cooperable with a burner pan or tray 32, as will be described.

The draft opening 2 3 is completed by a wall 33, inclined in a rearward direction. By inclining the wall 33 a restricted draft discharge opening 34 is provided, slightlyin advance of the draft exit 39, and there is thus provided a juncture of two separate and distinct draft passages, created i by reason of the passage of air through the combustion chamber N3, the grill i3 and the conduits 2|, as will be understood.

The wall 33 includes a trough 35 into which a liquid fuel may discharge through the medium of a pipe 36, fed from any suitable source, not shown.

The pipe 36 may include any suitable control valve 31 for regulating the flow of fuel, and the trough 35 has a plurality of openings 38 for discharge of liquid fuel upon the divergent plate 3! so as to feed the fuel to a trough 39 disposed within the pan or tray 32. The trough 39 has a multiplicity of openings 48 formed therein so as to permit flow of fuel into the tray or pan 32.

A downwardly inclined plate All is secured within the housing [9 fixed to an upper forward part thereof as indicated at 42, said plate including side flanges 43 for securement to the side walls of the housing. Inwardly of the lower end of the plate 4| the latter is secured to the lower angularly disposed flange 44 of the trough 35, the openings 38 of the trough being so positioned as to deposit fuel upon the plate 3! for a purpose presently to be described.

In use, the valve 3? is opened to permit a flow of fuel to enter the trough 35 which fuel passes through the openings 38 onto the plate 3! from whence it feeds by gravity to the trough 39 and through the openings 40 into the pan or tray 32. The valve 87 may then be closed and a piece of lighted waste cotton. is then inserted through the draft opening 20 into the tray or pan 32 so as to ignite the liquid fuel therein. The fuel is allowed to burn for a while so as to pre-heat the plate 4|, the lower end of which is disposed over the medial portion of the pan or tray 32 so that this plate and associated parts will become thoroughly heated, the draft elements 25 and 29 being suitably adjusted to permit combustion of the fuel. After the plate M and associated parts have become thoroughly heated, the draft elements 25 and 26 are opened and the valve 3'! opened to permit a proper flow of oil through the pipe 36. The burning of the oil in the pan 32 Will also heat the combustion chamber I l and the combustion grill l3, so that all interior parts of the burner will thusmaterially assist in the vaporization of fuel oil to provide a readily combustible fuel.

With the flow of fuel oil into the trough 35 oil will drip through the openings 88 of the trough and air entering through the opening M will contact the oil drippings, as will the air currents admitted through the draft opening 23, thus breaking and vaporizing the oil and forcing it against the heated plate 4! at points inwardly of the discharge of liquid fuel. The gases thus produced pass by reason of draft created by the conduits 25, over the pan 32 where they are ignited. The combustion grill it obviously becomes intensely heated so that if any gases should happen to pass the pan 232, the grill it will intercept such gases so that they will be ignited and burn before passing to the conduits 2 i.

It will be understood that by providing intercepting air drafts at or approximately at the oil discharge a violent turbulence between the air currents and the discharging fuel oil is inherent, thus producing a highly combustible mixture free of unvaporized oil particles as Well as reducing and practically eliminating oil soot.

While I have shown and described a preferred construction, this is by way of illustration only and I consider as my own all such modifications in construction as fairly fall within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An oil burner comprising a housing having a front wall provided with a pair of vertically spaced draft openings, a downwardly inclined plate in said housing, an inclined wall secured upon the front wall of the housing contiguous with the upper edge of the upper draft opening, a fuel feeding trough carried by said wall and mounted on said plate, a draft division member disposed between said draft openings, said draft division member having an upwardly inclined lower plate cooperating with the upper edge of the lowermost draft opening and a horizontal plate extended from the lower edge of the upper draft opening together with side walls of the housing forming an air duct, a draft agitator plate within the housing and arranged at an angle to the inclined plate of the draft division member to define a reduced exit opening, said draft agitator plate including a downwardly inclined plate adapted to receive fuel from said fuel-feeding trough, said last named plate having a perforated fuel trough at its lower end, a pan within said housing beneath said last named trough, a valved conduit for feeding fuel oil to said first named trough and said housing having a rear wall apertured for reception of conduits for conducting hot gases to remote points and a combustion grill inwardly of said rear wall.

2. Ari oil burner comprising a housing having vertically spaced draft openings, a draft division -member mounted between said draft openings, said draft division member having a horizontal plate aligned with the lower edge of the uppermost draft opening and an upwardly inclined plate aligned with the upper edge of the lowermost draft opening, a draft agitator mounted on the base of the housing including a-plate inclined to the upwardly inclined plate of said draft division member to define a passage having a reduced draft exit, said draft agitator further having a plate extended downwardly in the direction of the base of the housing and terminating in an apertured trough, an oil receiving pan beneath said trough, a plate mounted within the housing and extended downwardly in spaced parallel re lation to the last named plate of the draft agitator and having an oil receiving trough mounted thereon, said trough having a wall aligned with and secured at the upper edge of the uppermost draft opening, said iast named oil receiving trough having apertures for discharge of oil upon the downwardly extended plate of the draft agitator and means for feeding oil to said last named trough. JEFF L. GRIFFIN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 80,413 Legg July 28, 1868 224,886 Earnes Feb. 24, 1880 401,741 Fleetwood Apr. 23, 1889 743,414 Anderson et a1 Nov. 10, 1903 1,324,502 Graves 1 Dec. 9, 1919 1,738,655 Jessen Dec. 10,, 1929 1,880,695 Beyer Oct. 4, 1932 2,149,770 Hook Mar. 7, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 10, 12 France Feb. 9, 1909 (Addition to 392,371) 

